It has been a while since our last update. Where has time gone and why has it gone by so fast?!? Thank you for your patience with us in our lack of updates and communication. Michele and I hope this will be a fresh start, and we will once again get back to more consistent writing.

Here are a few of the things we have been doing since the year started. Over the next few updates we will discuss some of these in greater detail so we do not overwhelm you in one newsletter.

• We have continued in our work with our partner ministries, Trinity Church and Trinity Children’s Centre.
• Starting in January, Leo took over as team leader for one of the three ministry teams at East Mountain.
• Beginning in January we started assisting with leading the East Mountain one-year residency program.
• In February we assisted with hosting a short-term missions team from Virginia.
• Beginning in March, Michele began assisting with developing the new East Mountain website.
• Beginning in April, Michele began mentoring one of the one-year residents.
• In April we helped host a conference which brought various UWM missionaries from across the globe to East Mountain.
• From mid-May thru mid-June, we helped host Summit (East Mountain’s six-week internship intensive).

Over the course of these past six months, we have enjoyed the variety of ministry opportunities that have been presented to us. The first half of this year has allowed us to have great reach in working with a number of students and interns from many different parts of South Africa, the U.K., and the U.S. while also giving us the privilege of going deeper with a smaller number of people in our work, both with the East Mountain residents, Summit interns, and within Trinity Church. We feel that so far through our time here at East Mountain, God has allowed us to be involved with what we felt he asked us to enter into in cross-cultural, foreign missions: to be a catalyst for the Great Commission.

Our time abroad and our ministry work this year has not always been easy, and we have seen a few failures and areas for improvement along the way. We have also seen many successes and been a part of many joyous occasions though. At times, it has been challenging, and we have longed for our friends and family back in the States. We have also enjoyed what life in ministry has to offer and continue to find new rhythms amidst a never-ending backdrop of learning in so many areas, including culture, language, ministry, missions, and about God.

As was aforementioned, we hope to expound on the work we listed above in future posts to help give details about the ways we have been involved with ministry down here in the southern hemisphere. If you want to see one of the ways Michele and I have been involved with one of our ministry partners, you can read Wednesday’s blog post about our times of Coffee With God at Trinity.